Where has the time gone?

In an age of endless scrolling, the fluffy kind of busy and overstimulation in the form of shiny new things and “it” fashion, it’s not hard to lose a few hours from screen time.

While I’m guilty of losing many hours that should have been spent on way more important things, I think I’ve finally gotten it under control. Or as under control as realistically possible for the lifestyle I live.

I’ve come up with a few ways to stop is from happening, or at least from taking over half of the day.

Read on for 5 quick tips you can implement now, to reclaim your Productivity back from the time thieves and hopefully get more out of your days.

Time matters – I like to do this by wearing a watch. My dad always likes to point out that having a watch these days is pointless though I disagree. If I check the time by a flick of wrist rather than by pulling my phone out of my bag, I’m a lot less likely to think “ok, phone’s out. May as well check every app on there including how my iHobo is going…*” By using a watch to check the time, it pretty much eliminates the chance of time wasting on my phone.

No-tifications – That’s right. Turn your notifications off. The only ones I have on are my messages and phone (for obvious reasons) and my aNotes app (so I know when things are due). If it’s important enough, someone will call me about whatever it is they need to say. This one has probably made the biggest difference to my productivity.

Declutter and maintain – I Marie Kondoed the shit out of my place a few years ago and am still in shock that everything has remained in order to this day. I might make a blog post dedicated to this if anyone is interested in the process. Decluttering has made such a difference to the way I organise my time. I don’t have to send hours looking through my clothes to find a single top and I know exactly where all of my kitchen utensils are. I’m not exactly a minimalist but the only thing I haven’t been able to locate in the time between the decluttering and now is… mosquito repellant…? Don’t ask.

Early bird gets the worm – It’s boring, but it’s true. The earlier you are for something, the quicker you’ll be done with it. Unfortunately this also goes for the fun things too (the earlier I start eating this ice cream, the quicker I’ll finish it. Or maybe it’s the quicker I can start on a new one?) but that’s not what this is about. I am notoriously late for everything as my friends will have no hesitation letting me know. I always try to get ready for things earlier but the ADHD in me means I’m still half an hour late. But it’s better than being 2 hours late, right?

I also find that waking up early makes me more productive through the day and the extra couple of hours means I can get a decent amount of extra things on my to do list done. And starting assignments earlier means less stress and more time for fun things. I’m still working on this last one though…

Be a no man (or woman) – This is probably the hardest one for a lot of people but also probably the most important of them all. It’s not easy to say no people or even to yourself without feeling guilty for it. I take on an absurd amount of projects and work on, accept almost every social invitation and cook my family’s ridiculously extravagant favourite meal requests all while keeping up studying, exercise and adequate sleep. Needless to say, something have had to be sacrificed and in my case, it was sleep and my sanity. As you can imagine. it’s not tremendously easy to keep up productivity levels when you feel like you belong in a mental institute. I’ve slowly been declining brunch invitations and no longer bake banana bread and vegan pavlovas every few days for my family and I’ve gotta say, there was an immense amount of time hidden away in those activities. Start saying no to some things every now and then and I guarantee you’ll find yourself with more than enough time to complete your monthly to do lists.

Before I leave you with my top tips on boosting productivity, here’s a giveaway in collaboration with Jord Watches where you have the chance to own your very own classic, wooden timepiece to help you keep track of your time sans the digital distractions.

Most of the Jord watches can be engraved on the backplate (the wooden boxes they come in can be engraved too!), most of the watches are customisable (think different woods with difference face colours), they can all be sized prior to shipping and shipping is free.

If you’d like to enter the competition, all you have to do is head here and let us know which is your favourite watch. It’s as easy as that!

Good luck to everyone and let us know in the comments below what your top productivity tip is!